McGraw and Hill rock their country with the Soul2Soul World Tour 2017

Saturday

Jul 8, 2017 at 6:22 AMJul 8, 2017 at 1:26 PM

Jay Miller

BOSTON - The First Couple of country music headlined TD Garden in Boston this weekend, and if there was anything that Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's Soul2Soul World Tour 2017 proved Friday night before an almost-capacity crowd of about 18,000, it was that there is a lot of rock in their country.

Putting that crowd in perspective, McGraw and Hill were doing another show Saturday, and Friday's concert was opposite the Florida Georgia Line's sold out show at Fenway Park.

McGraw and Hill and their ten-piece backing band played 26 songs over their two hour set, divided into some of McGraw's hits, some of Hill's hits, and some of their stellar duets. The night included three new tunes from their forthcoming duet album, slated for release later this year.

This year's edition is the third version of Soul2Soul, as it was the monicker of a co-headlining tour in 2000, and again in 2006-2007. Opening act Lori McKenna of Stoughton, who has penned major hits for both artists, noted during her set that she had opened for them on the TD Garden stage exactly ten years ago to the night on the previous Soul2Soul Tour.

Actually neither McGraw or Hill have had a new album recently, as his most recent CD was in 2015, while Hill had the “Deep Tracks” compilation in 2016, but hasn't done a new album since 2008. Part of that is because of raising the couple's three daughters, but in February of this year McGraw and Hill released the single “Speak to a Girl,” a harbinger of the new material on the forthcoming duet album, and, naturally, an immediate hit.

Both McGraw and Hill have always tended to bring extra colors into their country music palette. His unpretentious, blue collar guy-with-a-sensitive side image has also always liked to kick it up in honky tonk style, while Hill's warm and engaging style includes plenty of soul and gospel roots. Both McGraw and Hill have canny ears for smart songwriting, and their work is not just instantly infectious, but has a contemporary feel in tone and subject matter, and is not afraid to poke fun at themselves, and their whole status as the model music industry marriage.

Vocally is a different matter, as McGraw has a flexible, tenor/baritone, a relatable Everyman voice that he employs skillfully. Hill, on the other hand, has such stunning range, power, and control that you have to conclude every other female country singer is competing for second place. Hill's rendition of “Piece of My Heart,” the old Janis Joplin hit, for example, was as spine-tingling a performance of that old chestnut as we have ever heard, framed by a psychedelic intro segment, and then a blistering arrangement that likely rocked harder than the original.

There was another head-spinning moment for Hill's vocals, on the empowerment tune “(I Am) Free,” from her 2002 album that was criticized as too pop. While you could see how that critique could be made, amid all the flashing lights and lasers accompanying the pounding song last night, it was also possible to visualize someone like Lady Gaga or Pink doing the same song, and not being able to reach down for the emotional wallop Hill delivered.

A third instance was almost funny. When some musicians fused hard rock and country into something a few folks called “blitzkrieg honky tonk,” groups like Jason and the Scorchers, The Georgia Satellites, and The Blasters were the gold standard. Well, when Hill uncorked one of her first hits, “Wild One,” with a raucous arrangement that at one point had three guitars and an electric mandolin at the front of the stage wailing away behind her, we were thinking the effect was like hearing The Georgia Satellites with a really foxy new singer. And that was not the only time a song finished and Hill was still running in place on stage, giddy with the power of it all.

Last night's stage was set at one end of the arena, with a sloping front rhomboid piece (I was awake in geometry class!) that extended onto the floor probably the length of 20 rows. McGraw and Hill spent most of their time on that front section, striding back and forth and playing to all sides, while the band was mostly arrayed on the two upper levels. A huge video screen was in back of the stage, and there were a series of scrims and lighting effects that dropped out of the ceiling to enhance certain songs or moods. It did seem the soundmix was a bit loud, with the low end flattening out the overall sound, but the two vocals were always audible and clear.

The show opened with a kind of duet section, after McGraw and Hill opened with the sizzling old Aretha Franklin tune “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me,” and segued right into “Felt Good On My Lips” and then his mega-hit, “I Like It, I Love It,” where McGraw managed to slip in a quick Celtics salute. Sometime after that, McGraw slipped offstage for a few songs.

Hill's take on “The Lucky One” was an early indication that country music was the only thing on the menu, as it achieved a greasy kind of soul feeling. Hill, dressed at that point in a slinky black gown with strategic slits–and yes, those are still the best legs in country music–really unveiled some of her highest, most impressive vocal register on “The Way You Love Me.” Hill shone again on the torch song, “Like We Never Loved At All,” with some truly awesome sustains.

McGraw returned in time for the duo to unveil a couple of the new songs from the album due later this year. “Break First” was a slower, almost folk-music like story-song about two old lovers meeting unexpectedly, and trying to avoid each other, and the couple ended it with an epic staredown. “He never wins staredowns in our house,” Hill joked afterwards. “Fellas, we all know,” McGraw retorted, “there are times when you just have to walk away..that's how we've been married 20 years.”

“Telluride,” the other new song, had a throbbing folk-rock sound, with both of the singers on acoustic guitars, and a lyric which basically said anything can be handled “as long as we're together.” Hill then seemed to get another spotlight section, as she did that boisterous “Free,” and then a fiery rock take on “This Kiss.” A power ballad like “(Just) Breathe” is tailor made for Hill's vocal gifts, and her rendition was like a primer for harnessing that incredible instrument and still making the words resonate.

Shortly after that Hill, 49, slipped away, and McGraw returned to center stage alone, where he led the band in a soft, a capella reading of Bruce Springsteen's “Hungry Heart.” With a rowdy romp through “Shotgun Rider,” McGraw, 50, then turned to his latest number one hit, “Humble and Kind,” written by McKenna as a homily for her kids. McGraw's version was accompanied by video showing people of all races, ages, and religions, and a slide guitar flourish, and when it ended, the audience responded to his conducting and added a lovely 18,000-strong coda of the chorus.

McGraw's “Live Like You Were Dying” anthem kept the crowd in singalong mode, and truthfully, he got about as far as the first chorus line “I went..” before the fans voices overwhelmed his voice, and he just stood back and let the sound wash over the arena. McGraw was superb on hits like “Angry All the Time,” “Real Good Man,” and “One of Those Nights.”

After the moving “Speak to a Girl,” and the low-key duet “It's Your Love,” the homestretch had some surprises. For the easy-rolling country-rocker “Mississippi Girl,” Hill walked out along the floor, circling most of the floor area, shaking hands and slapping five as she sang. As she disappeared backstage, McGraw appeared midway up the first loge section, singing “Something Like That,” as he descended and then circled the floor, doing the same greet and sing routine. For their encore the couple appeared on a platform raised above the outer stage, sitting knee-to-knee, as they sang the acoustic guitar ballad “I Need You.” Laser lights floating above them gradually formed into a pair of triangles, and by the song's conclusion, they had the two singers wrapped within.

McKenna's opening set, in a trio format with guitarist Mark Erelli and a keyboardist, was both homecoming and down home friendly. McKenna's “The Bird and the Rifle” presented its serious theme about hopes and dreams running into reality with a laidback soulfulness. “Where are my Stoughton people?” McKenna asked before the next song, prompting some wild cheers in the floor section. “Okay! I'll see you at the grocery store” she said, before starting her vibrant “Happy People,” which notes that “happy people don't hate…or hold grudges..”

McKenna doesn't just write hits for McGraw and Hill, of course, but before her final number she did pay tribute. “I have a music career because of Faith Hill,” said McKenna. “So many people have helped me out along the way, but Faith and Tim are my angels.”

“Girl Crush” was McKenna's finale, and a huge hit for Little Big Town, and also the first big, all-encompassing singalong of the evening, giving the local songsmith a glorious send-off. (McKenna will be playing at The River Club in Scituate on August 2 and 3.)

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